flexing your marketing muscle: social media strategy & content creation

FLEXING YOUR MARKETING MUSCLEStrategy, Content & Policy in Social Media

SocialNomics Vid

SocialNomics 3.0

Welcome / Introduction

GOALS FOR TODAY:-- Develop an understanding of general content strategy for your organization

-- Brainstorm ideas for specific campaign initiatives that may be applicable for your target audience(s)

-- Share tips and tricks that will optimize your content online

The Plan.

Quick room poll Lessons from Years One &

Two Campaign Successes Facebook EdgeRank Group Brainstorm Recommendations

Metrics to Employ People/Pages to Follow

RAISE YOUR HAND IF…

(Don’t be shy!)

Organization website? Do you control it? Personal Facebook profile? Organization Facebook Page? Do you

manage? Personal Twitter account? Org. Twitter

account? Personal LinkedIn account? Organization? Are you on Google+? Is your org.? Are you on Pinterest?

Who’s Who? Who’s Where?

OUR STORY:

Lessons from Years One & Two.

There are plenty of resources/examples online of other organizations (similar to yours!) that have already done this work

USE THEM. Review the language. Consult your senior

staff. Keep it under two

pages. Above all: incorporate

your mission and values into the policy.

Writing a Policy? Borrow! Steal!

The MHSAA: Lessons We’ve Learned

MHSAA Facebook

7,663 Fans

Average weekly growth: 72.3 Fans

@MHSAA

2,184 Followers

Average weekly growth: 20.9 Followers

Current Quantitative Data

After creating accounts on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – we sat back

Waited 90 full days before posting anything anywhere

Monitored conversation using combination of Google Searches, Twitter Keywords, Facebook Searches

Developed strategy based on trends witnessed during 90-day period

How It Allllll Started

Developed a Baseline for Measurement

EXCEL:Use what you know!

Three-Prong Content Approach

Announcements

Outside Contributions

Updates

on MHSAA clinics, meetings, trainings, events and news

Recommendations for non-MHSAA created content, articles, news

Live Event Updates

Up-to-the minute tournament information from on-site staff

Youngest? No. Blondest? No.

Select the person who understands your message and mission: truly.

Tech-savvy doesn’t hurt, but isn’t required

Don’t assign an intern. This is your brand, your reputation, your public perception!

Why Andi?

Connection: Campaigns & Convos

Individual attention: personalized content

Targeted and tailored for specific audience

Goal is to interact/engage with both new & established members through new medium(s)

Fresh content, “Nuggets”

Contests, polling, voting – “Call to action”

Tie It All Together

Measurable, Trackable, Fun-tastic: Displayed

Participants see immediate results, understand scope and action required

Tie It All Together

Drive Them Where You Want Them

•12 clips garnered over 17,500 unique views on YouTube (to date)

• Integration of Facebook event and Twitter posts generated buzz

• Shared results with most engaged audience: fans at the Breslin Center over two weekends in March

Press On!

•Battle of The Fans Contest: started with students

• Integration of Facebook event and Twitter posts generated buzz

• Will share results with most engaged audience: fans at the Breslin Center over two weekends in March

OPTIMIZING CONTENTFacebook EdgeRank – Making It Work For You

How do you consume online?

They will rarely come back here…

News Feed = your channel.

The Rules of Threes:

3AFFINITY

WEIGHT

TIME DECAY

Affinity is the user’s relationship with the items creator. The more a person comments, likes or

interacts with your posts, then the more likely your update will show up in their News Feed.

The more a person’s friends comment, like or interact with your posts, then the more likely your update will show up in that person’s News Feed.

Affinity

Weight combines what type of object and what type of interactions it’s receiving.

Videos, photos and links are generally considered to have the highest weight.

General text updates (with no videos, photos or links) carry the lowest weight.

Weight

3VIDEOSPHOTOS

Links

3COMMENTLIKE

Share

Type of Content

Relationship to the

object

Type of Interactio

n

Final variable: as an object gets older, the lower value the post carries.

Facebook is concerned with the relevancy of status updates in relation to the amount of time that has passed.

Fresh & frequent content are heavy players in whether your message is being seen.

Time Decay

3Times per day

Hours of “half life”

Different times of day

Posting Frequency

Tips!

Call to action!

Tips!

Call to action + engagement

Tips!

Ask questions.

Tips!

Share,

Share,Share

Tips!

Customize.

Tips!

Customize. Again.

My Content is Optimized: Now What?

How do you want to share your stories?

SIX FEARS

The scary stuff.

How many are you thinking?

1) Loss of control over your organizations’ branding & marketing messages

2) Dealing with negative comments.3) Addressing personality vs. organizational

voice4) Fear of failure5) Perception of wasted time & resources6) Suffering from information overload

already: a.k.a. “this is too much to handle”

A FEW DON’T ITEMS…

Pointers!

If a company/business posts updated back-to-back, multiple times per day? Hidden from News Feeds or unfollowed. Period.

Don’t spam your audience.

Social media is a two-way conversation you have with your members. When you ignore concerns or questions, you appear aloof and ambivalent. Don’t you care?

Don’t neglect issues/problems.

In the same vein as ignoring comments, it’s just as bad to post a canned response to all issues or concerns.

Don’t use formulaic responses.

Users notice when they see the exact same content posted on all your networks or marketing channels. This includes marrying your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Don’t automate your updates.

While neglecting issues or problems is a bad practice, turning off the wall completely sends the message that you just want to broadcast, not engage.

Don’t turn off the wall.

Don’t post this photo if you’re the MHSAA.

CHECKING IN

Groups of 4-6.

Who are we speaking to?

What do they want from us online?

What do we want from them online?

How can we align those actions?

How will we know if it’s working?

How will we keep the ball rolling?

How will this evolve?

Questions That Need Answers:

RETURN ON INFLUENCE

Watch, Listen, Measure, Aggregate.

Measuring Quality, Quantity, Reach & Velocity

MONITOR ANALYZE

Administer searches

Track keywords View trends Review

conversation

Counts Multiple accounts Data overlay

Building New Relationships

Generating Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Strengthening Brand Loyalty

What Is It About?

Free on Facebook: Insights

MHSAA Facebook Insights

My Favorites:Features:

◦ Web-based◦ Free/pay models◦ Columns◦ Integrated accounts◦ Scheduling◦ Simple URL shortener

and photo uploader◦ Excellent mobile app◦ Customizable reports

Incorporates:◦ Twitter profiles◦ Facebook profiles◦ Facebok pages◦ LinkedIn ◦ WordPress◦ FourSquare

Tracks and projects growth in Twitter Followers & tweets

Weekly email with average growth, expected growth for coming 7-day period

My Favorites: TwitterCounter

Graph and see, at-a-glance, tweets per day, most common keywords/trends for your account

My Favorites: TweetStats

My Favorites: SocialMention

Aggregates content from across web

Allows easy tracking/measuring of what others are saying about your brand, topic, product, conference

Monitors 100+ social media platforms

THINGS TO KEEP EYES ON

Follow, Subscribe, Like. LEARN!

Daily posts: RSS sent right to your Inbox

Specific to non-profits and smaller corps

“Expert.”

Webinars RSS feed “Social

Media for Social Good”

Another “Expert.”

Hundreds of authors

Reputable, current and relevant

“Expert(s).”

Aggregate postings

Multiple contributors

RSS feed “Expert(s).”

@MarkRaganCEO

RSS feed Social media

tab Another

“Expert.”

Thank you!

Questions? Comments?

CONTACTAndi Osters

MHSAA(517)332-5046

andi@mhsaa.com